Two volumes, with DVD. Includes 74 figures, 24 tables and 100+ lithic drawings.

Although segments of the ARNAS territory have been investigated for the past one hundred years, a comprehensive and systematic survey of the area had never been undertaken prior to the work of the ARNAS team members.

The main goal of the project was to discover, record, and interpret archaeological sites within the survey territory. Some other objectives included: the discovery, on the basis of the artifactual material identified, the area's settlement patterns from the Lower Paleolithic (ca. 1.4mya) to the end of the Late Islamic period (AD 1918); a study of surface trends to determine, on the basis of the number of sites and the amount of lithics and/or sherds collected, where in the territory "settlements" were concentrated in antiquity; an investigation of the Khatt Shabib or "Shabib's Wall," a low stone wall running in a generally north-south direction to the east, ca. 5-10 km, of the Via Nova Traiana (Trajan's road built between AD 111-114); and to document the rock art, tribal markings, and inscriptional material of the region.

ARNAS team members accomplished the objectives of the project by transecting and recording the archaeological remains found in 140 randomly-chosen squares (500 x 500 m), covering around five percent of each of the three topographical zones of the survey territory. This resulted in a statistically valid sample of the archaeological materials of the area. In addition, team members recorded 389 archaeological sites encountered within, adjacent to, or on their way to-from the squares.

Ceramic archaeological periods/cultural-temporal units represented in the survey territory are: Chalcolithic-Early Bronze; Iron II; Nabataean; Roman; Byzantine; and Late Islamic. In addition, sherds, in small numbers and at only a few sites, from the Late Bronze, Iron I, Hellenistic, Early Islamic, and Middle Islamic are also represented.

The accompanying DVD contains Random Square Descriptions and Images, Site Descriptions and Images, a table compiling all debitage, cores, and retouched pieces, and Settlement Pattern Maps for all of the Cultural-Temporal Unites represented at ARNAS sites.

'These two volumes are the latest in a series of publications of surveys in southern Jordan led by Burton MacDonald, who deserves credit for documenting a great many archaeological sites in under-investigated regions and for bringing them to publication in a timely manner. He provides much data for future analysis, as well as guidance for heritage management.' (E.B. Banning, Antiquity, December 2013)

Burton MacDonald is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. MacDonald has written a variety of books and scholarly articles about the archaeology, history, and biblical importance of Jordan.